Path 2

Path 2

Film

September 14, 2004

Pupi Avati makes nostalgic films about middle-class and aristocratic Italians around the turn of the last century. The old-fashioned charm of Incantato derives less from its 1920s setting than from his steadfast belief in conventions of plot and character. Neri Marcoré stars as Nello, a self-effacing classics professor sent by his womanizing father (Giancarlo Giannini), tailor to the pope, to teach in Bologna and find a wife. There he meets Angela (Vanessa Incontrada), a beautiful society girl who was suddenly blinded; despite her wounded state, she toys with his affections. Nello’s lack of charisma poses problems for both his love life and this motion picture—his childlike innocence belongs to a different cinematic era. If you can suspend your disbelief regarding Nello’s naïveté, this film offers some quiet pleasures.